eCommerce is a catch-all term for buying and selling products and services over the internet.
The term covers many business models, from full-fledged online retail sites to online marketplaces. It also includes digital businesses that may not sell directly to customers but still use digital marketing or fulfillment, such as an all-digital catalog or an online service that helps clients manage their creative projects.
In the early days of eCommerce, it was risky for companies to try to sell products on the web. There was no guarantee that customers would be open to purchasing online, and consumers weren’t sure what to make of this new phenomenon. However, eCommerce prevailed, and today it’s one of the fastest-growing parts of the global economy.
As technology marches on and the digital age grows, more and more organizations are beginning their efforts to digitize their business. You might wonder how digitizing your business can benefit your company.
In this blog, you’ll learn the benefits of using online platforms to operate your business with compelling eCommerce and business digitization statistics.
Business Digitization Statistics
- Experts predict the artificial intelligence market will be worth $407 billion by 2027. (Market and Market)
- According to 56% of surveyed CEOs, digitization efforts have already improved profits. (Zippia)
- Digital transformation efforts are 1.6 times more likely to succeed with an engaged chief digital officer leading the way. (AI Multiple)
7 Benefits of Digitizing Your Business
1. Discover new strategies to increase customer engagement
You can discover new approaches to grow your business’s customer engagement by digitizing your business.
Nowadays, customers expect a seamless online experience and will not wait for you to catch up. Therefore, you risk losing valuable customers if your business doesn’t offer an online component.
Digitizing your business enables you to interact with customers in real-time and provide them an access point where they can get information about your various offerings anytime they want.
As a result, you can grow your business’s customer base and stay ahead of the competition by making products and services available to digital shoppers.
2. Reinforce security
Another benefit of digitizing your business is adding a layer of data security and protection. Security is critical for customer data since you want to return the trust you’ve received from customers by ensuring you don’t let their data fall into the wrong hands. Sensitive customer data may include credit card details, social security numbers, and other personal information.
Increased security for digitized business entails having a consolidated data source. Since everything is in one place, it’s easier for IT professionals to monitor it and ensure everything is secure at all times.
3. Improve brand visibility
Besides making it easier for customers to find you, digitizing your business also enables potential employees to find jobs in your company. Here, increased brand visibility is beneficial, especially if you’re a startup looking for talent with specialized skill sets or an established company looking for employees with expert-level capabilities.
4. Increase organizational efficiency
Digitizing saves time and money. It allows you to automate processes and eliminate the need for manual labor. Digitization can be particularly beneficial for small businesses that don’t have a large staff or budget.
Plus, a digitized business lets you share real-time information across multiple platforms. Your customers can access more information anytime and anywhere, which is critical for today’s brand of consumers who prefer instant results.
5. Improve processes through analytics
Businesses with digitized systems can make well-informed decisions through data analytics. The data you collect allows you to analyze which part of your business operations is doing well or otherwise.
For example, your historical data can provide insights into how sales during a particular month can affect your annual inventory levels. Your data can also clearly show how marketing campaigns influence customer behavior.
With data analytics, you can retain or alter specific aspects of your organizational processes, ensuring the most efficient way of conducting business affairs.
6. Reinforce and reinvent company identity
When companies first open their doors, they’re usually at a small scale and don’t necessarily have the funds to invest in their branding or marketing. However, as a company eventually expands and becomes more successful, the owners may decide that it’s time to show off what they’re all about. Enter digitization.
Digitizing your business allows you to take all of the facets you can put on digital media, such as your website, social media pages, and online store, and present them in a unified way that perfectly represents your company.
It highlights your unique personality and brand identity so that customers recognize you quickly, aiding in brand recall. In addition, you can make an impression on your customers with everything from the language you use to the pictures you post.
7. Enhance customer service
Customer service is an integral aspect of a successful business. One of the most significant advantages of digitizing a business is that it allows you to focus more on customer service.
Through digitization and the technology it provides, you can streamline processes and create efficiency by automating tasks and keeping track of customer interaction. For example, you could leverage chatbots to answer FAQs from prospective or current customers. You could also retrieve your help desk agents’ conversations with customers to discover opportunities for improvement.
With these measures, your customer service team can do their jobs better while engaging with customers in all digital touchpoints.
Diving into Digitization
Digitization is no longer just an option for entrepreneurs and business owners. Instead, it has become the norm. A digitized business provides more opportunities for an organization to succeed, from increased visibility and better customer service to a viable method of reaching a broader audience.
While some may think digitized businesses effectively end traditional brick-and-mortar establishments, that is not entirely true. You can still have a physical store while creating an online outlet that supports it. Doing this satisfies the people who prefer online processes while catering to those who still prefer a physical establishment.
